‘Jailhouse Rock’: Five songs that were written in jail
The all-encompassing isolation of imprisonment provides a lot of opportunities for people to reflect on their actions and experiences. Couple that with the endless subjugation of prisoners by their captors, and you are left with a perfect storm of artistic inspiration. It is often said that great art comes from great suffering, and perhaps that provides some answers as to why themes of imprisonment have been commonplace since the advent of pop and rock music itself.
From the rockabilly adrenaline of Elvis Presley’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’ to the pioneering ska rhythm of Toots and the Maytals’ ‘54-46 Was My Number’, prison has provided inspiration to artists for generations. The image of criminality and imprisonment seems to fit hand-in-hand with the inherently rebellious nature of rock music, making the theme a natural fit for the genre. Conversely, many of the artists who have performed or penned tracks about the oppressive nature of imprisonment have never even been close to a cell.
‘Folsom Prison Blues’, for instance, is arguably the definitive prison song, but Johnny Cash never found himself so blatantly on the other side of the law. However, there have been a few notable tracks over the years that were actually written by artists while imprisoned. While some of these artists simply spent a night or two in jail, usually for minor crimes like drug possession or – in the case of The Clash’s Joe Strummer – for spray-painting their band name on a wall, others were serving lengthy prison sentences for horrific crimes like murder.
Inevitably, songs and art created behind bars often have a distinctly dark quality, influenced by their authors’ isolation and imprisonment. As a result, these songs form some of the most interesting examples of rock and pop songwriting in the face of adversity. While we at Far Out would never condone criminality, that does not stop the songs written by these alleged criminals from being both fascinating and infectious.
Five songs that were written in prison:
‘Weighted Down’ – Skip Spence
Alexander ‘Skip’ Spence was, at one point, a promising young songwriter marking his mark on the San Francisco psychedelic scene. Coming up at a pivotal moment in American rock, Spence co-founded Moby Grape and even performed with the legendary counterculture psych band Jefferson Airplane. However, the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was plagued by mental health issues, made worse by an ever-increasing dependence on both cocaine and heroin.
After stepping away from the music industry during the early 1970s, Spence’s condition witnessed a steep decline, and soon, the police were called to deal with this tragic figure. After being involuntarily committed to a Mental Health Hospital, the musician wrote ‘Weighted Down’, an incredibly poignant account of being both physically and mentally imprisoned. The fact that, even after his release, Spence spent many of his final years suffering from mental health issues and even homelessness makes the song all the most gut-wrenching.
‘Just Walkin’ In The Rain’ – The Prisonaires
The majority of tracks on this list were penned by artists who happened to be prisoners, but The Prisonaires – as the name implies – were a group constructed entirely of prisoners at the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Led by Johnny Bragg, who was imprisoned for six counts of rape – which were later dropped – the band consisted of murderers and thieves, not the most obvious line-up for a blues and gospel outfit.
In 1953, the group of inmates released ‘Just Walkin’ In The Rain’ through the iconic Sun Records label, after reportedly being given a day pass out of prison in order to record the song. The track is among the finest doo-wop records of the early 1950s, and it landed the group a pretty sizable hit on the Billboard R&B charts in the United States. When Bragg was released from prison in 1956, he continued to pursue the musical inspiration he had experienced with The Prisonaires.
‘Sacred Love’ – Bad Brains
The world of hardcore punk often draws upon themes of criminality, police injustices, and anarchy, almost as a means of proving its punk credentials. Few groups, however, took these themes to the extremes of Bad Brains. One of the defining groups of the Washington D.C. hardcore movement, the band was often noted for its unique blend of punk and dub reggae, and its 1986 album I Against I is one of the greatest efforts of the genre.
One of the tracks from I Against I was penned by frontman H.R. while he was behind bars on marijuana possession and distribution charges. The track, ‘Sacred Love’, was not only written while in prison, but recorded from prison too. On the request of producer Ron Saint Germain, the vocal track for the song was recorded over the telephone, with H.R. calling in from his cell.
‘No Particular Place to Go’ – Chuck Berry
There is not a rock guitarist on the planet who does not owe something to the innovative playing style of rock ‘n’ roll forefather Chuck Berry. The guitarist and songwriter helped to establish the revolutionary sounds of rock during the 1950s, but he was certainly not without his issues. Throughout his life, Berry was plagued by legal troubles – ranging from tax evasion to rape.
In 1959, Berry was imprisoned for transporting a 14-year-old girl across state lines, where it is alleged he raped her multiple times. Disgustingly, though, the rock and roll progenitor utilised this abhorrent crime as an opportunity to re-establish himself in the music charts, writing ‘No Particular Place To Go’ while behind bars for the crime. The song becomes all the more harrowing when you listen to the lyrics, which detail a man riding around in a car with a woman, in stark similarity to the crime which Berry was originally convicted for.
‘2000 Light Years From Home’ – The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones have had multiple run-ins with the law over the course of their illustrious career. In June of 1967, at the peak of Stones mania, Mick Jagger was arrested and sentenced to three months in jail for possession of Benzedrine – a particularly potent brand of amphetamine sulphate originally used to aid congestion. A three-month sentence is nothing to scoff at, particularly when you’re the frontman of the biggest rock and roll band in the world, and Jagger was left yearning to go home.
During his isolating imprisonment, Jagger penned the particularly dark track ‘2000 Light Years From Home’, a rare psychedelic rock effort that formed the basis for the Stones’ incredible 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request. Of course, the charge would not be Jagger’s last run-in with the law over drug use and possession, but it was certainly his most productive prison period. After being released on bail after only one day in jail, the Stones quickly began to work on their next record.
